This work takes as its starting point the evocation of a sterile, surgical context as a space of transformation. Traditionally associated with correction, control and the pursuit of a normative ideal, this universe is here reappropriated as a territory of possibility and emancipation. Metal, sutures, the cold of a stretcher, the act of spreading one’s legs before an instrument that was never intended for pleasure. These are the materials of STERILIZED FOREPLAY: a treatment couch, a clinical examination chair, a gynaecological device, a fetishistic object. Steeped in a strong sense of historicism, these objects evoke practices which, over time, have had a direct impact on the female body. Notably in the context of beauty treatments, abortion practices, contraception and other forms of gynaecological intervention. They are not mere instruments: they carry memories of control, of clandestinity, of suffering and of disputes surrounding the autonomy of women’s bodies. The precision of their contours, the hardness of the materials and the apparent neutrality of clinical language contrast with the violence and vulnerability inscribed in their history. These elements bring to light the tension between the power relations that have determined – and continue to determine – female behaviour and its commodification and codification. Here, the artist plays with the memory of the objects through a sterilised game.
Text by Pedro Willian Barros
